The First Presidential Debate

6pm- Keith Olbermann confirms the presence of both candidates are in the building.

Moderated by Jim Lehrer

they're slipping some of the economy in, along with the theme of foreign affairs.

Obama takes the first go a tthe economic question right off the bat. MCain isn't laying down the principles to fix it like Obama did. (4 points) He's blathering about bipartisanship and brings it back (indirectly) to drilling oil.

Obama brings it to regulations. He's going to tee off on McCain's record, shortly.

what the hell does world war two have to do with whether or not he's going to vote for the plan?

McCain hasn't answered a question directly yet. (6:15)

6:18 now it's tit for tat on government spending.

6:31 McCain isn't answering how he would change his priorities, but Obama's dodging a bit too..

6:36 cucumber & ranch dip mmmmmm.... WHy isn't Obama going after McCain's record? Take the reins and go on the attack??

ahhh, there we go. 90% agreement with bush bush bush

mcCAIN's blathering about iraq and the success of the surge-
obama better come back with the fallacy of the iraq war all together...

6:42 ok he did. Home run!

6:48 still talking about Iraq, and the surge and whether or not the whole thing was necessary or not

6:52 moved on to afghanistan. THey're pretty much tit for tat still- this will be decided in the media... American voters need to decided between two totally different views.

THe Huffpoo liveblog is pretty good...

6:59 M Cain's distracting with the soldier/bracelet story... "I've got a bracelet too," says Obama.

7:08 McCain can't pronounce Ack madinijas (sp)

7:17 Steve from TVNewser: Scorecard from CNN HD analysts (two libs, two conserv. two independ): 34 positive for McCain, 52 positive for Obama THis is the merits versus rhetoric thing. Could it be that merit wins out?

7:20 Why won't Lerher shut McCain up? He's running all over this thing.

7:22 We've moved from Iraq to Afghanistan to Pakistan to Iran and now on to Russia- McCain's winning on sheer rudeness of debate rules. This moderator is LOUSY. Total empty chair.

7:24 Finally Obama brings up McCain's record 23 votes against alternative energy.

Barack Obama is on the defensive, performance-wise

7:31 we're now overtime. Obama's finishing by reminding us that Bin Laden is still out there, and brining up the trillion dollar debt we owe China, and they're helping those we deal with...

7:37 Holy shizer, JOHN MCCAIN ENDED WITH THE P.O.W THING!!

Asshat of the Week

Delusional Arrogance in Action. This ad was pulled from a screenshot of the Wall Street Journal online.

Ye gawds. Here's the list of bone-headed moves that McCain pulled this week.

He suspends his campaign, but forgets to tell any of his field operatives, who keep operations running as usual. Senior moment or example of mendacity?

He bails out of the debate, declaring that the economic situation was far more important and that his presence was needed in Washington. Washington, who'd been working on it just fine all week without him, gets all derailed, and the deal they'd worked goes right down the pooper. Chris Dodd dismissed John McCain's arrival and participation as a "photo-op" and "political theater." I thought he was being generous.

Today he bails back into the debate, realizing that all he's done is paint himself into a corner- if he ditches the debate he gives Obama and hour and a half of free primetime television coverage, and showing up makes him insincere and waffly.

Stick a fork in this poor bastard- by the time he's done, only the dyed-in-the-wool koolaid drinkers are going to vote for him. This election is way too portentious to not choose the best man for the job, putting all kinds of ideologies, religions, and second-tier issues aside. Our country's infrastructure is collapsing around us, and this guy's worried about spending more money on the failed Iraq war.

(Screw the Iraqis. It's time for us to put America first, and let them stand up or not, as they're able. )

Wicca is one thing, State Witchcraft is another

Hooray! Sarah Palin has her own Pastor Problem. This is equal-opportunity stupidism, but let's be serious. It's one thing for a Reverend Wright to rail against America's policies, but when you throw Reverend Hagee's anti-Semitic rants and Rev. Thomas Muthee's cries for God in the Departments of Education and the Hollywood Establishment (read: Jews) then we have a more fundamental problem. While Reverend Wright had no business using his pulpit as a place to castigate his country from, I find it more disturbing that this snake-oil salesman wants to inject God into the running of government. Hollywood is more than capable of resisting religious dogma- "The Passion of the Christ" may have done landslide business, but I honestly went to see it to measure the splatter patterns. Is that wrong?.

Witchcraft? Really? The only witchery I see here is the determination by this lil updo-wearing Governor is to inject her close-minded world-view into the American political structure. That is unacceptable.

The following is pulled from Mudflats, and Alaskan blog that has been ballooning into national prominence as a result Palin's nomination.

Palin and the Witch Hunter - Chapter II.

25 09 2008

We have not seen the last of the witch hunter. We know Pastor Thomas Muthee was back in Wasilla this past weekend, and I posted a link previously of Sarah Palin recounting the time that Pastor Muthee had prayed over her, but now a video of the actual event has surfaced. Do not, I repeat do not watch this if you plan on sleeping any time soon. It’s a long clip, but here are the highlights:

2:57 - First mention of Sarah

5:00 - We need God to ‘take over the education system.’

5:27 - We need God to ‘take over the media’ and Hollywood itself.

6:08 - We need the government run by born-again Christians.

6:58 - Praying for Sarah to become governor (Doesn’t this impact their tax-exempt status? Anyone?)

7:12 - Sarah herself enters and is “prayed upon”.

8:38 - Another witchcraft reference.

Oh boy. The suspension of Mcain’s campaign, the beyond devastating Couric interview, Return of the Witch Hunter and the takeover of every facet of society by God, and the (strangely credible these days) National Enquirer releasing a story about an affair with Todd’s business partner…all in 24 hours. Not a good day for the McCain-Palin campaign.

It appears as if Pastor Muthee is working hard to fulfill the vision statement of his church, known as “The Prayer Cave”:

“Touching lives for total community transformation, thereby taking cities and nations.”

Resistance is futile, Wasilla. You have been assimilated. I wonder if Palin mentioned “taking cities and nations” for God during her chat yesterday with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai?

I’ll be sleeping with the lights on tonight.

What Else Would President McCain Postpone in a Crisis?

McCain's choice to call for a suspension of Friday's debate is the stupidest thing on the planet. This is the point at which a true President would want the opportunity to present his viewpoint to the AMerican people without any delay and as clearly and concisely as possible. The idea that we should delay this debate is cowardly- one of the greatest things about this American experiment of a country of ours is that the turn of events isn't what determines the succession of our government- it's the will of the people.
About John McCain
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Sarah Palin- Extremist at the Clinic

Soon after the book controversy, Bess found himself again at odds with Palin and her fellow evangelicals. In 1996, evangelical churches mounted a vigorous campaign to take over the local hospital's community board and ban abortion from the valley. When they succeeded, Bess and Dr. Susan Lemagie, a Palmer OB-GYN, fought back, filing suit on behalf of a local woman who had been forced to travel to Seattle for an abortion. The case was finally decided by the Alaska Supreme Court, which ruled that the hospital must provide valley women with the abortion option.

At one point during the hospital battle, passions ran so hot that local antiabortion activists organized a boisterous picket line outside Dr. Lemagie's office, in an unassuming professional building across from Palmer's Little League field. According to Bess and another community activist, among the protesters trying to disrupt the physician's practice that day was Sarah Palin.

read the rest of the article here

Is this who you want representing you when it comes to reproductive health in America? I don't trust this woman with her own daughter's uterus, never mind my own.

Richard Cizik is one of the country's most powerful and outspoken Christian evangelical leaders. He happens to be a Republican, and he has known the GOP's presidential nominee for many years. "I thought John McCain was a principled person," Cizik says. "But John McCain has backed off, not just on climate change but on torture and a sensible tax policy -- in other words, he's not the John McCain of 2000. ... He seems to be waffling on issue after issue.

It's not illogical for someone to conclude that John McCain is going to be more like George Bush than John McCain is going to be like John McCain in 2000."

rest of the article here

Wow, it really tells you something if the Evangelical Right is turning its nose up at John McCain. We can disagree on issues, we can disagree on policies, we can disagree on the direction we think this country ought to take; what seems to hold the center is the fact that good judgment, honorable ethical behavior and the undeniable sense of rightness that comes from working honestly for the public good never really goes out of style.

John McCain has become a joke, and a sad shell of the politician he used to be. Unfortunately, the politician he used to be was a member of the Keating Five.

We need to finish this stupid election and get to the business of the American People!

Don't Forget Joltin' Joe!

Here's the first few paragraphs on today's New York Times article on Joe Biden. He's been shuffled aside for ole Caribou Barbie, and it's a shame. He's got a lot to say. Please feel free to click on the headline and read the rest of the article; it's pretty awesome.

Meanwhile, the Other No. 2 Keeps On Punching

By MARK LEIBOVICH

FLAT ROCK, Mich. — As the economy reels, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. — the Other Running Mate — has been absolutely butchering Senator John McCain across the Rust Belt this week. It is not clear who has noticed.

“John is so out of touch, he just has no idea,” charged Mr. Biden, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, who called his “old, dear friend” someone who “just doesn’t think,” who is behaving in a repugnant manner and who is peddling “Republican garbage,” and malarkey.

The older woman who introduced him at a rally here called Mr. Biden’s Republican counterpart, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, a “bucket of fluff,” and he rewarded the woman as he took the microphone with an “I love you” and a gentle kiss on the head.

“If I sound angry, it’s because I am angry,” Mr. Biden told a few hundred people gathered at a high school football field. Yes, he sounds angry, yelling through his stump speeches, flailing his arms and telling a (supportive) member of the audience to “Shush up, will you?” (“I’m kidding,” he added, but did not sound it.)

But the reality for Mr. Biden is that while running mates are second-fiddlers by definition, the phenomenon of Ms. Palin has rendered him something of a fourth or fifth fiddle. It is not like last month, when reporters swarmed Mr. Biden’s Delaware home and delegates swooned at the Democratic convention. He is now trailed by just a few national reporters, and struggling to break through in a race marked by historic firsts, political celebrities and charismatic newcomers — none named Joe Biden.